Device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals

ABSTRACT

The device comprises a supporting arm moving synchronously with a conveying device upon which the slaughtered animals are suspended. A hollow sticking knife is adjustably suspended on the supporting arm and the vertical position of the knife is limited by an anchoring cable. A hose connects the knife with a blood collecting container. The conveying device is, at the end of the path for the blood withdrawing operation, directed upwards to that the anchor cable automatically removes the sticking knife from the finished body.

United States Patent Marti [451 Mar. 21, 1972 [541 DEVICE FOR WITHDRAWING BLOOD 5 m cm FROM BODIES OF SLAUGHTERED V UNITED STATES PATENTS ANIMALS 1,428,672 9/1922 Wilson ..l7/l C [72] Inventor: Erich Marti, Hauptstrasse 74, Othmarsin- 3,097 934 p gen, Switzerland 3,292,205 12/1966 Rizzi ..17/l C 122] filed: July 1970 Primary Examiner-Lucie H. Laudenslager l 21] Appl. No.: 56,421 Attorney-Ernest F. Marmorek [57] ABSTRACT (30] Foreign Application Priority Dot:

The device comprises a supporting arm moving synchronoully I969 Switzerland 127/69 with a conveying device upon which the slaughtered animal: are suspended. A hollow sticking knife is adjuslably suspended [52] .5. CL ..17/1 C, l28/276 Qn thc guppgflins arm and the yeflical position at th: knife is [5 I] III!- Cl. ..A2Zb 5/0 limited by an anchoring cable, A hon conngclg the knife with (58] FieldolSeerch ..99l2l; 17/1 C; 128/276, 347, a blood collecting container. The conveying device is, at the 128/348 end of the path for the blood withdrawing operation, directed upwards to that the anchor cable automatically removes the sticking knife from the finished body.

10 Clohnl, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDMARm I972 3,649,996

sum 1 OF 2 Fig. 1

g F H -5 INVENTOR. Eric/I M art 1/8 ATTORNEY.

DEVICE FOR WITHDRAWING BLOOD FROM BODIES OF SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a slaughter-house equipment and, more particularly, to a device for the blood removal from the bodies of slaughtered animals during their transportation on a conveying device.

Prior art cattle-sticking and blood-letting operations in slaughter houses are costly due to the rising labor costs and increasing shortage of experienced laborers. It is necessary, therefore, for the economic operation of the slaughter-house that these high wages requiring manual operations be as much mechanized and rationalized as possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

An object of this invention is to provide a far-reaching mechanization and rationalization of the blood withdrawal from the bodies of stunned animals which are suspended and forwarded on a conveying device.

Another object of this invention is to provide a practical and germproof device for the blood collection as it is required for a subsequent blood treatment such as, for instance, for the blood plasma manufacturing.

It is also an object of this invention to improve the structure of the sticking knife.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an automatic rinsing arrangement for rinsing the blood conducting means.

According to this invention, the above mentioned objects are attained by providing at least one projecting arm which is arranged for movement simultaneously with the movement of animals suspended on a conveying device, and which by means of an adjustable cable movably supports a hollow sticking knife. The cable is suspended on the projecting arm and the free end of the cable is loaded with a weight. A hose is connected to the hollow sticking or thrusting knife to discharge the blood from the processed animal into a blood collecting container that is situated at the bottom portion of the device. Another container with a conduit may be located at the top portion of the device near the projecting arm, and a second conduit is connected to the sticking knife to introduce a blood coagulation inhibiting solution therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. I is a schematic elevational view of a device for the blood withdrawal from the bodies of stunned animals, accord ing to one embodiment ofthis invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic elevational view, partly in section, ofa portion of another embodiment of the device according to this invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view of the device of FIG. 2 taken along the line III-III;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the sticking knife of this invention; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the sticking knife of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION After the stunning of the animals to be slaughtered, a fetter l is attached to the hind leg of each animal and suspended together with the animal on a conveyor which in FIG. I is schematically represented by a rail portion 2 with roller 3 and a book 4, the roller 3 being moved by a chain (not shown). The rail portion 2 has a semicircular configuration of such a diameter as to encircle the blood withdrawing device of this invention, generally designated by reference numeral 5.

The device 5 includes a rotatable vertical shaft 6 which is supported in a bearing 8 on the floor, and in a bearing 7 on the ceiling of the slaughter-house, for example. From the top to the bottom of the shaft 6, an upper platlonn 9, horizontally projecting arms 10 with reinforcements II, and a lower platform 12 with radially projecting rods I3 are firmly connected to the periphery of the rotating vertical shaft 6. Containers [4 with a blood coagulation inhibiting solution are situated on the upper platform 9. The lower platform 12, on the other hand, supports the blood collecting containers 15.

In FIG. I there are shown two projecting arms I0 with the corresponding number of containers 14 and 15. It is evident, however, that the number of these arms 10 and of the containers I4 and I5 around the shaft 6 can be arbitrarily increased in accordance with operational conditions as it may be required in an actual slaughter-house.

A sticking knife 20 is operatively associated with each arm I0 and pertaining containers l4 and 15. The sticking knife 20 has a hollow handle and a hollow tapering piercing portion, as it will be described in greater detail later. The handle is connected with a hose 2I through which the blood from the bodies of the slaughtered animals flows into the collecting container 15. Another hose 24 can also be connected at the connection point 23 immediately at the knife 20 and directed upwards to the bottom of the upper container 14 to supply the anticoagulation fluid.

The sticking knife 20 is suspended on the projecting arm I0 by means of an upper cable 25 which is guided over rollers 26 and 27, and loaded with a weight 28. To counteract the pull of the weight 28, an anchor cable 30 is secured between the knife 20 and the end of the rod 13 at the bottom platform 12. The length of this anchor cable 30 determines thus the unactuated position of the sticking knife 20. The actuated position of the knife 20 is shown on the left side of FIG. I. The knife 20 is first lowered to a convenient sticking position and subsequently driven into the carotid artery of the suspended beast. After this operation, the handle of the knife 20 can be let free and the knife will remain in its operation position within the body of the slaughtered animal, since the pull of the weight 28 tensions the upper cable 24 and knife 20, whereas the anchor cable 30 is relieved.

The operation of the above described device 5 is as follows:

The stunned beasts 29 to be slaughtered are conveyed by the conveying device 2, 3 and 4 against the projecting arms 10. The only manual activity consists in driving the sticking knife 20 into the body of the suspended stunned animal 29. The conveying device moves the animal 29 on a semicircular path. Simultaneously, the same path is followed by the ends of the projecting arms 10, as well as by the respective parts which are directly coupled thereto. At the end of this predetermined path section, after the blood removal has been completed, the rail 2 of the conveying device is directed upwards to a higher level so as to tension the anchor cable 30 and thereby to pull the knife out of the animal's body. This process is repeated for every animal which has been suspended on the conveying device. By the application of the coagulation inhibiting solution from the container 14, blood in the hose 21 and in the collecting container 15 is also prevented from coagulating.

In FIG. 1, the device 5 for the blood withdrawal is made in the form of a rotary device which is moved along a correspondingly bent path section of the conveying rail. Nevertheless, the employment of the rotary motion in the device of this invention is by no means compulsory, since it is required only that the projecting supporting arm follow, over a predetermined path section, the path of the conveying device. During the transportation of the animal's body on this path the blood withdrawal from the body is accomplished without any additional manual operation.

The device 5 is equipped with a drive 45 which can be embedded, for example, in the floor of the slaughter-house. The drive is preferably formed by an electromotor 46 in conjunction with transmission gears 47 which are coupled to the rotary vertical shaft to adjust its motion to the conveying device.

In the case that the blood coagulation inhibiting means are not applicable for further treatment of the blood, the lower part of the device 5 (FIG. I) can be modified preferably in accordance with the embodiment as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Like pans are denoted by identical reference numerals.

As seen in FIG. 2, the rotating vertical shaft 6 supports at its bottom portion a firmly connected cover 50 with uniformly spaced openings in which the ends of respective hoses 2l are held in position. Under the cover 50, a single blood collecting container 51 is arranged around the shaft 6. By contrast to the embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, the container 51 is stationarily mounted on the floor and is partly covered by a segment 57 (FIG. 3).

The ends of hoses 21 under the cover 50 are connected to multichannel valves 53, respectively. The hollow portion of the vertical shaft 6 under the cover 50 is extended to form a chamber 56 which is laterally connected through conduits S9 with the individual multichannel valves 53. The bottom of the chamber 56 has an opening with a ring-shaped seal 58. A conduit 54 serving for supplying a rinsing liquid into the chamber 56, passes through the hollow bottom portion of the shaft 6, and is sealed by the seal 58 during rotation of the shaft 6 and the rinsing chamber 56. The multichannel valves 53 are mounted under the cover 50 for rotation above the stationary container and are actuated by projecting controlling levers 60 in such a manner as to open the channel from the blood conducting hose 2] into the open top section of the container 51, whereby the rinsing channel is closed. When the multichannel valve 53 passes the area covered by the segment 57, the channel from the hose 21 is closed and, at the same time, another channel from the conduit 59 is opened into the hose 2!. Through the latter channel the rinsing fluid from the rinsing chamber 56 is introduced into the hose 21. This switching operation can be performed fully automatically, by a stationary sliding cam 55, for instance, which is arranged on the sector 57 opposite to the path of movement of the actuat ing lever 60. During the operation of the device of FIGS. 2 and 3, the lever 60 is engaged by the cam 55 and switches over the channels within the multichannel valve 53 to open the rinsing channel and close the blood conducting channel, as described above. At the end of the lid segment 57, the initial position of the lever 60 is restored and the channels become reversed so that the hose 21 is ready again for conducting blood into the container 51. The blood in the container 51 can be agitated by a suitable stirrer (not shown).

In FIGS. 4 and 5, there is illustrated in detail the structure of the sticking knife 20. A cylindrical handle portion 22 is separated from a tapering pipe portion 36 by a protecting disc 35. The cables 25 and 30 are affixed to the handle 22 immediately at the junction area of the protecting plate 35. It is possible that the connection piece 23 for the anticoagulation conduit 24 is also located at that junction area of the handle 22 and the disc 35, instead of at the end of the handles 22, as shown in FIG. 1. The tapering pipe portion 36 of the knife has a frustoconical configuration and at its top end it is pro vided with guiding fingers 37 for guiding and supporting a piercing blade 38. The piercing blade 38 has a flat, pikelike shape and fits into a gap between top end shoes 40 of the fingers 37 and into a notch 41 which is created at the end of the frustoconical pipe 36. To hold the blade 38 firmly in its working position in the notch 41, a U-shaped wire retainer 42 passes through the blade 38 and its inwardly bent ends are hooked in bores 42' in the side walls of the guiding fingers 37.

The connection piece 23 can protrude through the inside of the tapering pipe portion 36 as far as to the blade 38 in order that the blood-coagulation inhibiting means from the conduit 24 be added to the blood flowing from the slaughtered animal as early as possible.

The angle of the cone of the tapering pipe 36 is relatively sharp, approximately within the range of about degrees. This steep and smooth slope of the tapering knife portion facilitates correct performance of the blood withdrawing operation, without any additional manual attendance. Due to the permanent pull of the cable 25 by the weight 28, and due to the sharp cone of the hollow tapering knife portion 36, the knife 20 is securely held in position within the body 29 of the slaughtered animal and even positively forced therein. As a consequence, the pierced site is completely sealed by the knife so that no blood can leak around.

The prior art embodiments of the sticking knife are, in comparison with the structure of the knife 20 of the present invention, complicated and less suitable; they have either counteracting hooks and, for this reason, they are difficult to remove from the animal's body; or they must be provided with a supporting mechanism. In either case, the prior art knife must be manually removed from the slaughtered animal at the end of the blood-letting path. By contrast, the removal of the sticking knife in the embodiment according to this invention is carried out automatically by raising the conveying trail, as indicated in broken lines at 16 in FIG. 1, without any manual assistance.

By means of the above described device, the entire blood withdrawing process is effected almost fully automatically, with the only exception of the introduction of the sticking knife into the animal's body. As a result, considerable saving of labor is attained. In addition, the blood which has been collected by the aforedescribed method has minimum germ contamination and is, therefore, more suitable for further processing than the blood acquired by prior art processes.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. A device for withdrawing blood from the bodies of slaughtered animals during their movement through a section of a predetermined path on conveying means comprising, in combination,

at least one supporting arm, said supporting arm being driven on said predetermined ath section in concert with said conveying means;

hollow sticking knife means;

suspension means suspending said hollow sticking knife means adjustably on said supporting arm;

means operable for limiting the vertical position of said sticking knife means;

first conduit means coupled to said hollow sticking knife means;

first container means;

said first conduit means communicating with said first container means to discharge therein the blood flowing through said knife means when applied into the body of said animal.

2. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 1 further comprising second container means and second conduit means, said second container means containing a fluid for inhibiting the blood coagulation, said second conduit means connecting said second container means with said hollow sticking knife means to introduce said coagulation inhibiting fluid therein.

3. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 2, said first and second container means being arranged for movement with said supporting arm.

4. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 1, said first container means including a stationary container located beneath the outlet of said first conduit means.

5. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 4, further comprising multichannel valve means;

a source of rinsing fluid;

said multichannel valve means being coupled to said outlet of the first conduit means and to said source of the rinsing fluid, and being controlled to open alternatively said first conduit means into said first container means, and said source of the rinsing fluid into said first conduit means.

6. A device according to claim 1, said suspension means including a cable, guiding rollers secured to said supporting arm for movably supporting said cable, and a weight attached to the free end of said cable to bias said sticking knife means upwardly.

7. A device according to claim 1, said hollow sticking knife means including tapering pipe portion with a smooth surface, a flat blade, said blade being removably connected to the end of said tapering pipe portion, and means for retaining said blade in connection with said tapering pipe portion.

8. A device according to claim 1 further comprising a vertical shaft. said shaft being supported for rotation about its axis, said supporting arm being affixed to the top portion of said shaft, whereby said conveying means are adjusted to coincide, on said predetermined path section, substantially with a section of the orbit path of said supporting arm.

9. A device according to claim 6 wherein said means for limiting the vertical position of said sticking knife means is an anchor cable of a predetermined length, said anchor cable counteracting the pull of said suspension cable.

10. A device according to claim 9, wherein at the end of said predetermined path section said conveying means are directed upwards so that said suspension cable removes said knife means from the body of the depleted slaughtered animal.

I I I I i 

1. A device for withdrawing blood from the bodies of slaughtered animals during their movement through a section of a predetermined path on conveying means comprising, in combination, at least one supporting arm, said supporting arm being driven on said predetermined path section in concert with said conveying means; hollow sticking knife means; suspension means suspending said hollow sticking knife means adjustably on said supporting arm; means operable for limiting the vertical position of said sticking knife means; first conduit means coupled to said hollow sticking knife means; first container means; said first conduit means communicating with said first container means to discharge therein the blood flowing through said knife means when applied into the body of said animal.
 2. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 1 further comprising second container means and second conduit means, said second container means containing a fluid for inhibiting the blood coagulation, said second conduit meaNs connecting said second container means with said hollow sticking knife means to introduce said coagulation inhibiting fluid therein.
 3. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 2, said first and second container means being arranged for movement with said supporting arm.
 4. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 1, said first container means including a stationary container located beneath the outlet of said first conduit means.
 5. A device for withdrawing blood from bodies of slaughtered animals according to claim 4, further comprising multichannel valve means; a source of rinsing fluid; said multichannel valve means being coupled to said outlet of the first conduit means and to said source of the rinsing fluid, and being controlled to open alternatively said first conduit means into said first container means, and said source of the rinsing fluid into said first conduit means.
 6. A device according to claim 1, said suspension means including a cable, guiding rollers secured to said supporting arm for movably supporting said cable, and a weight attached to the free end of said cable to bias said sticking knife means upwardly.
 7. A device according to claim 1, said hollow sticking knife means including tapering pipe portion with a smooth surface, a flat blade, said blade being removably connected to the end of said tapering pipe portion, and means for retaining said blade in connection with said tapering pipe portion.
 8. A device according to claim 1 further comprising a vertical shaft, said shaft being supported for rotation about its axis, said supporting arm being affixed to the top portion of said shaft, whereby said conveying means are adjusted to coincide, on said predetermined path section, substantially with a section of the orbit path of said supporting arm.
 9. A device according to claim 6 wherein said means for limiting the vertical position of said sticking knife means is an anchor cable of a predetermined length, said anchor cable counteracting the pull of said suspension cable.
 10. A device according to claim 9, wherein at the end of said predetermined path section said conveying means are directed upwards so that said suspension cable removes said knife means from the body of the depleted slaughtered animal. 